I am trying to set up a rule in Outlook 2003, so that whenever I get
an email a Auto response is sent to that person saying "Thank
you.....etc..."

Problem is that it works only sometimes. For our exchange server it
works, but for yahoo.com, gmail.com the autoresponse is not sent. If i
go and manually run the rule, it works fine. Also, I have set it up
for the rule to run on the server not on the client machine.

I hope i have made my question clear. if you need any more information
please contact me.

You could use the "Out of Office Assistant" - and just always keep it
on.  It will send the response (only once) to everyone, regardless of
what domain they are emailing from.

Brady173

Basically, I am setting it up for our Human Resource Dept and so when
a person sends a job application, he should get a reply saying " thank
you for applying".

So, I dont want the applicants to see "out of office". I hope you see,
what I am trying to get at.

Thanks,

We were in the same situation here, so I devised a rule for our HR
account, which apparently works for anyone - within the Exchange
server, or outside.

Here's the steps I used : 
First, make an email template that you want to use to reply to
everyone.  Make up a regular message, and then go up under FILE - SAVE
AS - TEMPLATE.  Mark the location of where you saved it, as you'll
need it below.

Now make the rule that replies to every email : 

1) Rules Wizard

2) Check Messages when they arrive

3) On the "which condition(s) do you want to check?" page, I did not
check ANY.  I clicked NEXT.  The message pops up asking "This rule
will be applied to every message you receive.  Is that correct?"  I
clicked YES.

4) On the next screen, I chose "Reply using a specific template"

5) On the SAME screen, click below on "a specific template" (which is underlined)

6) Pick the TEMPLATE.OFT from where you saved it.  In the Look In box,
make sure you pick "User Templates in File System" so you can browse
to the file, and then click OPEN, and then NEXT.

7) On the Exceptions window, decide if there are any emails you DO NOT
want this to goto.  Maybe a particular group inside your exchange
server, or everyone at your company (you could pick something like "if
the message header contains @yourcompanyname.com)

8) Follow the rest of the steps, and turn the rule on.

Check it out by emailing to that account from a free email site like
GeoCities, GoogleMail, or whatever.

Is that more what you're looking for?

Brady

Thanks Brady173. I have not tested this option you said. I tried the
option: "have server reply using a specific message" and then I saved
the message. It did not work.

For the option you mentioned, does the user have to be always logged
on our network for the reply to be sent, or will it work automatically
when a email comes to our exchange server.

I will keep posted, once I try the steps you mentioned. Thanks a lot.

Bachii11 - 

In answer to your question, no, the user doesn't have to be logged in.
 Thats the best part of using Microsoft Exchange Server.  The server
is always on, and the rule is stored on the server.  So the user
doesn't have to worry, or be logged in.

Give it a try and let me know!
Brady

Thanks Brady. It did work but only a small problem. When I did the
steps you mentioned it said "This rule is a client only rule, and will
process only when outlook is running". The rule works fine when
outlook is open.

The option i tried when setting up the rule was "have server reply
with a specific message". That did not work fine.

Problem is that we have an HR login on our network and we have given
HR email rights to our HR managers. So they login to the network with
their Ids and just access HR in their outlook. So nobody exactly logs
on to HR account.

The steps you said are of great help, but will it be possible somehow
to make the rule run without having someone to logon to the network.

Thank you,

Ok, so there is a specific way to do this : have the server reply for
you.  Delete the first rule you made, and re-create two new rules :

FIRST RULE :
Apply this rule after the message arrives
have server reply using template (Thank you for your interest!)

Select Conditions : none (meaning it will reply to everyone)

Select Actions : HAVE SERVER REPLY USING A SPECIFIC MESSAGE (pick your
template here as the reply)

Select Exceptions : (any particular distribution list, internal email
you don't want it to respond to?)

Specify a Name for this Rule : AutoReply : Thank You For Your Interest

*** This makes the SERVER reply, not the user's Outlook!  This is what
you were looking for all along! ***

I include this second rule as an option - even though you didn't ask
for it.  With the second rule, you can autoforward each email from
this account directly to the HR person, so they don't even have to
check the account daily - it will forward to them.

As another option, in Outlook 2003, you can just have the HR email
account open on the HR Person's Outlook 2003 (as well as their own
personal email).  That way, the HR person could see BOTH accounts, and
respond as needed (without having to be forwarded the messages).

Both ways work, but here would be the second rule : 

SECOND RULE : 
AutoForward to HR Person
Apply this rule after the message arrives
forward it to HR PERSON

Select Conditions : none (meaning it will forward every email to the HR person)

Select Actions : forward it to (HR Person)

Select Exceptions : (anyone you don't want to forward to HR)
Specify a Name : HR FORWARD

Hope that is more what you were looking for!
Brady

Brady:
I have the HR account and other users have priviledge to access it. So
i wont need help on that part, as its all SET!
Now on HR auto reply:
When you select the option "have server reply using a specific
message" it does not work at all.
The first method you said which was using a specific template, was
working fine though not running from the server.
I know i might sound confusing, so please be patient with my responses.

The Rules Wizard rule "reply using a specific template"  sends the
automated reply, but only once to each sender during a session.  So in
your case if the same user sent in responses for several positions he
may not get replies for each of his responses.

To allow your account to auto reply from the server, you need to do the following:

1. Open Exchange System Manager
2. Select Internet Message Formats under Global Settings
3. Double click on Details in the Right pane of the MMC
4. Select the Advanced tab
5. Select "Allow Automatic Replies"

Thats it.

Hope this helps :-)

Thanks a lot aap1969-ga
You exactly got it what I was looking for and now it works perfectly
fine. I did sound little confused in my question, but thanks for
giving exactly the help I was looking for.

Just one more concern. Is there any security threat if we turn on this
option. I mean when we get spams on this email address, it will reply
back which will confirm that it is a valid email.

Thank you,

Glad I could help.

You need to install MS Exchange Intelligent Message Filtering. As
messages come to your server, if they are reported as junk email, they
get dealt with (rejected, deleted, archived etc), as configured by
you. Any that make it through would then be processed as per your
rules.

I have set my SCL thresholds (Spam Confidence Level) to block on SCL
>= 4 and set as junk mail on SCL >=2. I was getting around 400 spam
emails a day, and now only receive 1 or 2 a week. I ran the IMF in
archive mode and personally inspected every email for 6 months, and
had only one false positive. Once I was happy with the thresholds I
had set, I changed the action to reject. As messages arrive, if they
are seen as spam, they dont even make it into the exchange server.

I recommend you go to the MS Exchange web site and download this free add on.

Let me know if you need any further assistance.